We’re a bit slow on our blogging right now for various reasons, part of which included a busy Easter weekend and a fun trip to Carmel/Monterey last week (more to come on that!). These are a few of our favorites from Easter Sunday…it’s a tradition of ours to go to Easter brunch at the Hall’s, who are basically family in an extended sort of way. 🙂 They live on 3 acres in Roseville and have the best Easter egg hunt for the kids each year, not to mention the always entertaining trampoline. The girls had a great time, as always. It was the perfect way to celebrate such an important day!

Mom and dad celebrate 40 years of marriage today (no joke!). A few weeks ago, all the siblings were in town for the first time in years. While we were up at the house, we made an extended family portrait (thanks Caryn!)

Man there is a lot of us Hays peeps! Next is mom & dad with all the grandkids (except for one more in the oven) You both should be proud. Happy anniversary!

Here are some photos of Reilly and Miss T doing some modeling for our friends at the Silver Spoon. They did great, goose bumps and all (it was really cold). Not only that, Stef stayed home so they also had to be lighting assistants! Thank you models, your checks are in the mail.

More from our San Diego trip. It was wonderful having all the immediate family there (first time in many years!) Funny, now that we don’t live there, we do much more “touristy” things when we go back. Trips to the beach, Santee lakes, and of course Hooley’s are now staples in our visits. Thanks mom & dad for the fun & food. And thanks Bekah & Mike for the introduction (and now addiction) to rock band. “Run to the hills!!!…”

Here are a few faves from the trip.

It was my sister Paula’s birthday and what better place to celebrate than the new Hooley’s Irish Pub in Grossmont Center. What a place! They really did a nice job. Lighting, mood and food were all perfect. Guinness, corned beef, bangers, chips, Harp, mash, darts…and authentic Irish plasma TV’s!!

Paula is out from Kansas and we haven’t seen her for a while. We shared lots of stories, food and drinks….a great time.

Happy birthday Paula!!

We put a little something in Paula’s Lemonade…

Give me that sandwich…

We were invited to a birthday party by the Pulley’s at Wacky Tacky. What a crazy place! Perfect for our crazy girls. Clowns, ballons, pizza, cupcakes and everthing else that make little ones go wild. Thanks Pulley’s!!!

Better late than never I suppose…

Hey, I would have posted it Saturday but was busy with our super cool senior fashion shoot (more on that soon). Anyway, here is our little lovelies showing off their stuff. Hope you and yours shared some love.

This seems to be our month for exciting publication news! We are super excited that we have an image featured in a bridal shoe ad in the current issue of Martha Stewart Weddings. The ad is shown below, and we think it turned out great! Thanks to Tamara, the genius behind Bliss Bridal Shoes based in Rocklin for asking us to work with her on this exciting project. Can anyone guess where this image was taken? That’s right–in our very own backyard! Be sure to check out this amazing issue on sale now, and if you know anyone in the market for some incredible bridal shoes, these are sure to fit the bill!

Those of you who live in South Placer County may have already seen this incredible free publication around town, the Family Life source book. It’s on stands where you would find the free parenting and lifestyle magazines and is chalk-full of great resources for families living in our area, from education to encrichment. We are so honored to have one of our images featured as the cover, as well as two additional images on the anchor pages inside! We really want to thank the McMurtry family of Loomis, whose awesome, fun family portrait is what made the cover. On the inside you’ll find Teagan getting her haircut at CJ’s Cuts 4 Kids in Roseville (our favorite kids hair salon!) leading off the Services section, and the Enrichment section of the magazine is led off by the “ballet feet” image, taken at Reilly’s ballet recital a few years ago. It really is THE NICEST free publication I’ve seen out there, so be sure to take a look if you see it!

Reilly had a minimum day yesterday so Stef and I decided to surprise her and take the girls bowling. Of course we had great fun but honestly I thought I would do much better given my recent practice on the Nintendo Wii. For the record, it had no positive effect at all. About halfway through the first game I almost asked the attendant to put up the bumpers…

Noon on a weekday is a great time to go by the way. 1. Kids eat free! 2. There is hardly anyone there which was nice because my score was rather embarrassing.

Teagan was surprisingly quite a capable bowler. Now, she did start her roll from our waiting tables, but the ball eventually found its target. And check out Reilly’s form! Bravo!